Tekchen Chosling Nunnery, Tingmosgang

Tingmosgang a.k.a Temisgam, is 3 hrs away from Leh. At this nunnery, 14 young nuns (‘Chomos’ in Ladakhi) are taken care of by older nuns. The girls had been studying Buddhist philosophy in Nepal but received very little academic education. When they came back to India, they had to start school at Grade 1.Apart from their religious doctrines, the ‘Chomos’ study Bodyig, Hindi, English & Maths.

The delightful girls are a creative bunch and were quick to help the FoL team set up a cosy reading room. The 400 books have been selected for their particular needs. Pedagogical aids, stationery and art supplies have also been gifted to them for future art-literacy & logical ability modules.

Volunteers stayed at the Nunnery over the months of June and July to conduct story-telling sessions with themes such as compassion, joy of giving, our surroundings and environment. They also had the opportunity to learn some basics of film-making, theatre and act in a couple of short films.

-Abhigya

The maths education of the nuns had been relatively elementary in comparison to similarly aged students at other schools. The idea was to strengthen their basic concepts of maths through modules, such as counting, skip-counting, tables to factors and HCF using the teaching aids. Their grasp of the exercises was remarkable. They were also introduced to geometry; the topics covered included 3D shapes, and how combinations of different 2D shapes lead to 3D shapes; naming the shapes and spelling them , relating them to outside objects. FOL volunteers also spent time with the teacher and explained to her the other items in the kit – including balance, currency calculations, etc.